Mideast Conflict

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabian leaders made clear Friday they see no reason to increase oil production until their customers demand it, apparently rebuffing President Bush amid soaring U.S. gasoline prices.

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JERUSALEM (AFP) - Facing dismally low approval ratings at home, US President George W. Bush basked for three days in near-adulation as he joined Israel's 60th anniversary festivities.

CAIRO (AFP) - US President George W. Bush flies on Saturday to Egypt where he will meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas after celebrating Israel's 60th anniversary and address the World Economic Forum on the Middle East.

JERUSALEM (AFP) - As George W Bush left Israel on Friday, with only months to go as US president, he appeared confident his legacy there and in the wider Middle East would be a positive one.

RIYADH (Reuters) - President George W. Bush held talks with Saudi King Abdullah on Friday to seek help in taming record oil prices and shore up Arab support for his efforts to contain Iran's growing influence.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel ruled out all debate on letting Palestinian refugees return in any peace deal, as U.S. President George W. Bush ended a visit on Friday that left Arabs dismayed by his outspoken support for Israel's "chosen people."

RIYADH (AFP) - The White House announced major new cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia on Friday as US President George W. Bush made his second visit to the oil superpower this year.

RIYADH (AFP) - US President George W. Bush arrived in Saudi Arabia from Israel on Friday for talks with the world's biggest crude exporter on record oil prices that have hit Western consumers hard.

DUBAI (AFP) - Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden slammed Western leaders for taking part in Israel's 60th birthday celebrations and vowed that Muslims would fight and not give up "one inch of Palestine," in an audio message Friday.

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden said in a new audio recording released Friday that al-Qaida will continue its holy war against Israel and its allies until it liberates Palestine.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United States and Israel agree on the need for "tangible action" to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman said after a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - President George W. Bush ended a three-day visit to Israel on Friday and headed for Saudi Arabia, where he will continue a tour of the Middle East.

GAZA CITY (AFP) - The Palestinian Hamas movement will send a delegation to Egypt to discuss a proposed truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip where the Islamists seized power nearly a year ago, a spokesman said on Friday.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden vowed in an audio tape to mark Israel's 60th anniversary to continue to fight the Jewish state and its allies in the West.

Jerusalem - President Bush, at the height of his Wednesday-to-Friday visit here to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Israel, stood before the Knesset and laid out a vision for the Middle East 60 years down the road: an Israel that still stands tall, lives next to a Palestinian state, and is surrounded by countries where democracy and human rights reign.

JERUSALEM (AFP) - A rocket fired by Gaza militants damaged a synagogue and another hit a kindergarten in the southern Israeli city of Sderot overnight, a military spokeswoman said on Friday.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Hezbollah-led opposition and U.S.-backed government reached a deal Thursday to end Lebanon's worst violence since the 1975-90 civil war, now that the Cabinet has reversed measures aimed at reining in the Iranian-backed militants.

JERUSALEM - A Jewish-American billionaire questioned by police as part of a corruption investigation into Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday he has never given money to the Israeli leader and called suggestions of any wrongdoing "insulting."

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah has proven it can force Lebanon's U.S.-backed government to cave in on key issues. But the Shiite militant group's power is not absolute — the government is still in place and Hezbollah has lost support among the people by turning its guns on them.

LONDON (AFP) - The employers of a Palestinian cameraman who was killed by Israeli tank fire while filming in the Gaza Strip a month ago called for answers over his death from Israel's military Thursday.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rival Lebanese leaders are scheduled to talks in Qatar on Friday aiming to end a protracted political conflict that pushed the country to the brink of a new civil war.

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel warned on Thursday that its forces were prepared to launch a major military assault on Gaza after a rocket attack wounded at least 14 people while US President George W. Bush was in Israel.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinians protested across the occupied territories on Thursday on the 60th anniversary of the "catastrophe" of the birth of Israel and the exodus of hundreds of thousands of refugees.

JERUSALEM (AFP) - US President George W. Bush warned on Thursday that allowing Iran to obtain a atomic bomb would be "an unforgivable betrayal" as he made his second visit to Israel in five months.

JERUSALEM - On a sun-baked tour Thursday of an ancient Israeli fortress overlooking the Dead Sea, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took a sip of water from a silver cup, then handed it to President Bush.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - President George W. Bush told Israelis on Thursday they were a "chosen people" who can forever count on American support against enemies like Hamas and Iran.

JERUSALEM - Text of President Bush's speech to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, as provided by the White House.

BEIRUT (AFP) - Militants loyal to Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition on Thursday began removing roadblocks on the highway leading to Beirut's international airport, paving the way for commercial flights to resume, an AFP correspondent said.